Chronic Pain

The switch from acute to chronic pain is important to distinguish. Chronic pain is “pain that extends beyond the expected period of healing” and in the medical field it has no real physiological value, i.e. it is not the same as the warning signals we get when we get pricked by a needle or put a hand too close to a hot burner.

The response in the body during chronic pain keeps sending signals to the brain that there is something wrong or painful occurring presently in the body. Often the signal has already been received or there is no stimulus occurring to cause the pain signals.

There has been a portion of research devoted to understanding the effects of chronic pain on the brain in order to better understand why these signals keep being sent by the body.

Chronic pain can be associated with or a symptom of a variety of conditions. It can also in itself be a lifelong health issue independent of another condition. There are a number of treatments available to reduce the severity of chronic pain, but there is still a huge need to do more research to understand chronic pain and how best to overcome it.